Karl thought it through. A group of people, with different skills, working as a team—an adventuring party—would have much greater ability to survive. They could defend each other. They could kill monsters faster. They could gather the money and resources needed for a Safe Zone. They could take turns guarding supplies at night.

Karl considered how far he would have to walk—possibly fighting for survival every step of the way—to get to other human beings. But could he drive there instead? If the laws of nature were changing, would the car even run, or not?

Karl grabbed his car keys, a backpack, and his weapons, and stepped out the back door after looking around for monsters. Then he hurried to the entrance to the garage and listened. He couldn't hear anything. He unlocked the back door to the garage and opened it.

The space was fairly dark, despite the sunny day. He reached out and flicked the light switch, but nothing happened. He pressed the button to open the main garage door, likewise with no effect. Then he remembered his headlamp and turned it on.

Little green men.

That was the thought that flashed through his mind as the diminutive humanoids appeared. They hissed and raised arms to block the light, then charged towards him. It looked as if they had weapons. He managed to stumble backwards and pull the door shut, then locked the things inside and fled back to the house as he heard them hammering against the door.

After locking the back house door, Karl made a quick circuit to check for new monsters. Finding none, he breathed a sigh of relief and sagged against the wall, exhausted from adrenaline. After a minute he poured himself some water and took a drink. The pipes made a couple of funny noises, and he wondered if the water was going to stop flowing soon.

Karl tried to come up with a plan to get past the little green men in his garage. If he could get at them one at a time, he might be able to beat them. He took another look at his stat sheet. He mentally clicked on the specks that were the older messages, and now found what he had half remembered. You have 2 ability points to distribute.

He looked at his stats. Once he figured out that those points went into the bottom nine categories, he realized that he wasn't even sure what effect any of these would have. But if Constitution controlled toughness or overall health or something like that, then he badly needed to raise that 3 up to an average value. Strength also seemed important though in the immediate term.

Karl willed one point into Constitution and one into Strength, then reexamined his stats:

Karl Friedrich Hausman

Class: none

Level: 2

Experience: 120/500

Health: 48

Mana: 90

Stamina: 23

Endurance: 9

Body: 4.3 (Strength:3, Constitution: 4, Agility: 6)

Mind: 7.7 (Intelligence: 9, Willpower: 8, Aptitude: 6)

Social: 3.7 (Charisma: 5, Personality: 3, Allure: 3)

Adding those points had boosted his health to 48, which already felt much better than the 20 he had started with (and nearly lost all of fighting the crabs.) I wonder how I get a class?

He got up and made another patrol of his house, making sure nothing had spawned. He looked at the grandfather clock and stopped short.

An hour. All this had happened in one hour. After all the craziness, Karl was pretty sure that that was the most surprising thing of all.

He considered his options. The car was still his best hope of salvation. And that meant fighting the little green men. And the longer he waited, the more of them there might be. He was tougher now than before. If he could hold the doorway, he might be able to beat them. Maybe they were as easy as the crabs.

He picked up his weapons and hefted the ice chopper in his right hand. Frowning, he felt the weight. No way... He could actually feel that his strength had increased! The System really was changing his body, his health!

Just for a moment, a pit opened up in his stomach, as he wished the System had come several months earlier. Maybe it would have been possible to cure Jane. Oh, how she would have loved this adventure.

Karl blew out air, then forced himself to focus. For all he knew, every ten minutes he waited was another little green man to fight. He got moving. He scanned the woods from his back porch, looking for other dangers, then approached the back garage door again. The door was rattling, and he could hear banging from inside, and noises as if the storage boxes were being torn apart.

Karl put the key in the door handle, readied himself as best he could, and unlocked the door. A moment later the door started to fly open, only to stop short as it crashed into some obstacle that wasn't there a few minutes ago. Perfect. Karl peered through the narrow opening as one of the creatures started to come through.

He stabbed with all his new strength, driving the point into the little green man before him.

Critical hit. Damage X2

Karl twisted and yanked the chopper back then stabbed again. For a second time he hit, and the creature collapsed.

Goblin—unlooted

Meanwhile, there were a lot of noises on the other side, and then the door was flung wide open. Karl could see at least four more goblins, yanked the chopper back, and held his improvised shield to block their charge. They seemed to have rough stone axes. One connected with his shin and hurt like a sonovabitch, while blows rang the trash can lid like a bell when the monsters hit it instead of him.

His next two attacks with the chopper both missed. Karl was getting alarmed. He strongly considered dropping the shield so that he could attack two handed. He got even more alarmed when there was a sudden brief flash of light and he felt as if he had just been stabbed in the chest. Realizing that he would be killed if he didn't switch tactics, Karl dropped the trash lid and promptly kicked it hard at the two goblins in front of him, disrupting their blows and then with a two handed grip managed a solid hit on one.

Going on the offensive, Karl shoved instead of pulling, and drove the injured goblin backwards into the garage and onto the floor. The other front line goblin got in a solid whack with his axe, so Karl used his much greater mass and literally body slammed the opponent against the wall. He pushed onward, and once he was past that one, proceeded to yank the chopper out of his victim and shove it backwards hard, hilt first, into the second who had tried to come up behind him for an attack.

The two goblins in the back weren't advancing, for which Karl was grateful. He had his hands full just with these two. He tried to repeat his trick, stabbing the one ahead and then whacking the one behind him. He succeeded with the first and failed miserably with the second. Another fierce blast of pain came as an axe hit him from behind. Under normal circumstances the pain of the blow would have made him fall to the ground, but Karl was fighting for his life and hopped up on adrenaline.

He realized that one of the goblins in the back was chanting. The goblin he had almost stabbed to death was bathed in a green glow, then looked significantly healthier.

Oh, hell no. In desperation Karl stabbed and stabbed again as fast as he could at the healed but prone goblin, managing to kill it before it regained its feet.

Karl ignored the goblin behind him who had given him a world of hurt and was trying to do more, and charged for the two in the front of the garage. One pointed at him, and another brief flash was followed by another feeling of being stabbed. He hated that, but the healer was the priority. Switching tactics again, Karl swung his weapon until it was crosswise in front of him, and barreled into both of them, knocking them over while getting a momentary lead on the goblin behind him.

As they all clambered back to their feet, Karl dropped his weapon, punched the healer with his gloved fist and slapped the pointing guy in the face with the other hand, neither of which was expected. The pointing one suddenly looked like he had a spasm. Karl ran past the healer and put his back to the front of the garage just in time to face the pursuing axe wielder. It wasn't hard to dodge that blow now that he could see it coming.

Karl realized that in these close quarters, fighting with fists and feet was more effective, at least in the short term. It let him get in more attacks. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the Swiss Army knife, stabbing the fighter before him. His kick missed, and when he stabbed again, the blade snapped off of his knife. Out of better options, Karl grabbed for the axe. In a battle of strength, even Karl could beat such a small opponent, and he slammed the goblin hard against the side of the car, pulled the axe free of its grasp, and smacked him with his own weapon.

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There was a green glow off to the side, and the pointing goblin got to his feet and started doing the pointing thing again. Karl was pretty sure he couldn't take another one of those, so in desperation he threw the axe at him, but the pointer dodged. Karl dropped to the floor, grabbed the chopper, lifted it, and thrust with all his might at the pointer. He hit, and the pointer spasmed again as if he had been hit twice, and then collapsed. Karl scrambled to his feet, ran over and jumped with both feet onto the corpse to make sure.

The front line goblin was still on his feet, and the human stood up, looming over him. He heard chanting again from the healer, and swinging so hard that he felt something wrench in his back, crashed the end into the goblin's head, downing him. He had managed to kill the fighter before the healing spell went off.

Karl fell to his knees. All of the goblins were dead except the healer, who promptly healed himself. Karl finally thought to check his health, simply not having had time until now.

Health 4/48

One blow from that staff the healer held would probably be enough to do him in, and Karl honestly wasn't sure he could get back to his feet. But instead of attacking, the healer chanted again, and a red glow enveloped Karl for a moment, making him feel sick.

You have been struck by a curse: Minor Blood Loss

Health decrease by one every ten seconds for ninety seconds.

Health 3/48

Now the goblin healer charged, swinging his staff. Karl grabbed the chopper and blocked once, but knew he'd never be able to swing it around in time to block again, so he grabbed for the staff himself. A tug of war ensued, which would have been comical under other circumstances: Karl wobbling on his knees and the healer goblin being yanked back and forth bodily like a rag doll.

Health 2/48

Karl punched the goblin in the face, stunning him, then did it again, and again, before the goblin finally lost his grip on the little staff. Karl promptly brained him with his own little weapon, shuffled forward and beat the goblin again and again with the staff until finally it fell down, dead.

Health 1/48

The red glow hadn't left him yet. Karl knew he had seconds to live, didn't have time to reach for anything, go anywhere, or do anything. He'd run out of luck. Here and now, he knew was going to die.

And then he realized that he was holding the staff that had belonged to the healer.

Karl clutched it tightly in both hands and shook it, praying, “Please, God, please let it heal me. Heal your humble servant. Heal me.” He felt as if something was prompting him for something, and he thought yes at it with all his might.

A green glow enveloped him, and he felt something stir deep within his core.

Health 13/48

Karl gasped for breath, tears in his eyes, sagging back on his haunches, about ready to lie on the floor. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you. Thank you.” He clutched the staff to his chest reverently.

Health 12/48

Slowly, Karl made himself get to his feet instead of lying down like he wanted to. He looted each of the goblins with a nudge of his foot and acceptance in his mind. Apparently they were Goblin Shaman, Goblin Mage, and three generic Goblins. He watched his health tick downward, and when it reached 8/48, the red glow finally dissipated and the number started creeping upwards again. He staggered over to the back door and closed it, hopefully keeping the garage to himself for the moment. He looked at his stats.

He now had 400/500 experience, presumably towards level 3. Then he looked at his notifications.

You have qualified for a class or classes. You have four choices:

Warrior

Martial Artist

Healer

Paladin

Karl tried to stifle a snort. Jane would laugh her damn head off. I think she would literally be rolling on the floor, slapping the ground, with tears in her eyes and that beautiful smile. After a few more moments, he gave in and started laughing himself. It was just so absurd. Him, of all people.

He dutifully read the help on each of the classes—which actually came up now that they had been offered, apparently—then lingered on the last.

Paladin:

The paladin is combination of fighter and healer classes, focusing on fighter, specializing in fighting defense of others and leadership. Paladins are permitted using all weapons and all armor. They are granted spells on even-numbered level progression and also by discover. They are unable to learn other Healer spells.

Paladins gain two selectable attribute points with each level as well as one point to strength and one point to charisma.

Karl could see disadvantages to this choice. He had a long way to go, in both strength and charisma, before he could be anything like what his class presumably expected. He mildly disliked not being able to learn any spells other than what was given to him. But it was obviously the best way to survive, and aside from Healer, clearly the best way to help once he was with other people. And he wouldn't be any help to anyone if he died before reaching others, so...

Old words from Catholic mass came to mind. Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed. He accepted the paladin class.

Then he doubled over as he felt knowledge flood his brain. Again he felt that sensation of something shifting in his core. Was this the Holy Spirit? Or just some trickery of the System? Or...was the System merely the vessel, allowing Karl to be touched by God? Unsure, Karl sank to his knees and offered thanks for sparing him and giving him this chance, whatever the form it took.

When he opened his eyes, he knew the basics of how to use a shield, as if he'd just gotten out of Basic Training or something. And a short spear, which was only sort of vaguely like his chopper. And the spell healing hands. He had the ability to heal someone with a touch! He felt awe, just thinking about that.

Finally he stood again, and did a circuit of the garage, even checking the rafters and under the car, just to make certain he was alone and hadn't missed any spawns. He was about to unlock the car, but then thought to inspect the interior through the windows first. Seeing nothing, he did unlock the car, opened the door, and waited.

Hearing nothing, and seeing nothing come slithering or flying out, Karl got in, and tried to start the car. It wouldn't turn over. He gave it several tries. The car had been fine a few days ago, and now it was completely dead. Frowning, he looked over the interior, looking for even tiny differences. It might just be his imagination, but it did seem as if everything looked a little more worn, scratched, or cracked. As a test, he shifted the car into neutral, to see if he could, then put it back in park.

He also checked the manual control for opening the main garage door. Once he confirmed that the hand crank worked, he left it closed, and headed out the back door. Again he stopped, looked around, and listened carefully. The forest continued to be unnaturally quiet. He made his way carefully back to the house.

As soon as he was inside, he heard chittering. Oh, for crying out loud. He peeked his head around the corner and saw one lesser crab in the kitchen. It was poking at a backpack full of food.

“Hey! No!” He stomped forward. He must have missed it in a corner of the pantry or the laundry room when he was killing things earlier. The crab turned and attacked, apparently not having learned its lesson from their deceased brethren. Come to think of it, where are the bodies? With his odd new familiarity with fighting, it only took him a minute to dispatch it and collect the loot. Then he watched as the fresh corpse rapidly started flaking away into dust.

He realized that the mysterious missing crab legs were occupying squares in the inventory window. He wondered how to get them out, and abruptly he found a crab leg in his hand.

Wow.

Karl then spent several minutes playing with the inventory. It felt silly, but... How can I not? It didn't really get old, making things vanish from his hand, and then reappear. He even realized he could put his chopper in there, and the trash can lid. With a few tries, he managed to make them appear in both hands at once, instantly making him ready for combat.

“Okay, that is really cool,” he conceded. He noted that he only needed fifty more experience to reach third level, and the thought of getting four points better at things like strength was very appealing. He made another circuit of the house, but there were no more spawns at the moment. He had a lot more copper now, but still hadn't reached the value of one silver. But also in his inventory, he now found a System token. He wasn't sure when it appeared; he didn't remember looting it from any of the monsters. Maybe it was a reward for becoming a paladin.

It was time to leave the house, at least briefly. One or two more kills, and he would feel that much stronger and that much safer. And he needed to find other people; he had a debt to pay for his new powers. He wasn't sure to who, God or the System, but he meant to pay it regardless.

Karl took a minute to find more improvised weapons. He unearthed a kitchen knife that actually had a small sheath, and dropped that into his inventory to replace the broken Swiss Army Knife. He eyed it very closely and it looked a little rusty now; he was sure that it hadn't looked that way last week. Well, so long as it gives me one or two good stabs before it breaks...

He blinked. Why am I so casual about killing things? Shouldn't this be bothering me a lot more? I mean, I was never a shrinking violet. I would have had no qualms about killing animals myself for food, except I never had the need because I could just pay the butcher or the store instead.

But those little green men—those Goblins—wore simple clothes, used tools and weapons, and even cast spells! Shouldn't I feel guilty about that? About not attempting peaceful first contact? Granted, they invaded my home and attacked me on sight. But still, I would have expected to feel bad about that, and can't seem to bring myself to care much. The only thing bothering me is that I can tell it is odd that this isn't bothering me.

Is the System messing with my mind, numbing my reactions?

He started to feel truly angry at that. Making humans dance for their enjoyment. Giving us bloodlust so that we'll fight harder or something? Karl started to fume, but then remembered his precarious position and set it aside for later. I can hate it when I'm safe. For now, I have more important things to do. The irony of that thought possibly being encouraged by the System was not lost on him.

He opened his refrigerator, which had stopped running when the power went out. He opened a fruit yogurt and gobbled it down, realizing that it might be the last one he ever had. He put his chopper into inventory, took an apple, and closed the fridge. If I make it back here, I'll have to clear that out tonight so it doesn't stink.

Finally, he couldn't think of anything else to do. Time to go.

Karl warily stepped outside, locked the door behind him, and set off.